Automobile frames are designed to support the many components attached thereto for forming the finished automotive vehicle. Some of the components attached to the frame are modular components, or pre-assembled devices that are intended to be mounted on the frame member by fasteners during the manufacturing process. Automobile frames, or body structures of an automobile, are being formed through a hydroforming process that can affect a shaping of a length of tubing material into a complex shape through the placement of the tubing material in a tooling die and subjecting the interior of the tubing material with substantial hydraulic pressure to re-shape the tubing material into the form defined by the tooling die.
To expedite the manufacturing process the modular or pre-assembled components to be mounted on the automotive frame are conventionally manufactured with openings therein to receive the fasteners to attach the component to a horizontal or vertical surface of the frame member. Such positioning of the fasteners can be disadvantageous when the pre-assembled component includes a subcomponent that is positioned in the pre-assembled component in an orientation that interferes with the utilization of a tool for inserting the fastener through the opening in the pre-assembled component and into the automotive frame member. One example of such a pre-assembled component would be a battery support case and tray that would have the battery included as part of the pre-assembled modular component to be installed. Conventionally, the openings in the battery support case are located in a vertical face of the support case, requiring the fasteners to be inserted horizontally through the support case into the frame member. If the battery is included in operative position within the battery support case and tray, access to the fastener holes is occluded, requiring the battery to be manually removed from the pre-assembled component before installation, thus increasing assembly time and manufacturing costs.
Conventional automotive framing members are formed from stamped and welded frame members with little room for variation in the manufacturing process. The utilization of the hydroforming process to form the automotive body structure members provides an opportunity to improve the manufacturing process and allow an enhanced use of pre-assembled components to incorporate more subcomponents into the assembly by improving the process and apparatus for mounting pre-assembled or modular components in the automotive manufacturing process.
A conventional mounting of the battery support case and tray and other modular components, such as a steering wheel bracket, in an automobile can be seen in U.S. Pat. No. 5,934,733, granted to David Manwaring on Aug. 10, 1999, and in U.S. Pat. No. 6,276,740, granted to Michael Mellor on Aug. 21, 2001, wherein a plurality of brackets are used to mount the support case and tray for the battery from an extruded beam forming part of an automotive frame. The vertical face of a vehicle frame member is used to support the battery support case in U.S. Pat. No. 5,086,860, issued to Laurie Francis, et al on Feb. 11, 1992, and in U.S. Pat. No. 4,327,809, issued to Michael Fenstermaker on May 4, 1982, in which the structure supporting the battery is formed with a flange or bracket that is connectable to the frame member. Similarly, the horizontal surface of an automotive frame member is used for attachment of a battery support case in U.S. Pat. No. 5,547,036, issued to Sudanand Gawaskar, et al on Aug. 20, 1996. In U.S. Pat. No. 6,416,119, granted to Dean Gericke, et al on Jul. 9, 2002, the pre-assembled components, such as the air cleaner and battery tray are attached to hydroformed rails by brackets.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide an improved hydroformed frame structure in which pre-assembled components, such as the battery support case, can be attached to the frame member with fasteners that are oriented in a non-perpendicular manner with respect to the pre-assembled component.